Since the 2015 election 42 petitions have been debated in the House of Commons

How do government petitions work?

In 2015 Government and Parliament launched a petitions site promising MPs would debate an issue in parliament if enough signatures were collected.

The promise saw 23,232 petitions submitted to the Government website, petition.parliament.uk, in the first year.

Anyone can start a petition as long as they’re a British citizen.

Petitions need the support of five people to be submitted, after which they are checked before being published to the website.

Petitions may be rejected if they deal with something the Government is not responsible for, are personal, unclear or clearly a joke.

Examples of refused petitions include “get railway companies to enforce the quiet coach rules more stringently”, “I want fish n chips served in newspaper again” and “Get Emmerdale to scrap the dog theft story line & make public apology”.

Once uploaded to the website people can add their signatures.

How many signatures are needed?

If a petition receives 10,000 signatures the Government will respond.

If it gets 100,000 signatures it will be considered for debate in parliament.

Almost all petitions that reach 100,000 signatures are debated. But the petition may not go forward if the issue has been debated recently or a debate is already scheduled.

Since the 2015 election 331 petitions have received a response from Government and 42 have been debated in the House of Commons.

Parliament’s petitions committee may also invite petitioners to come and speak to MPs or ministers about issues they have raised.

A petition calling for a second EU referendum is the most signed petition

What petitions have made a difference?

While many petitions have been debated in parliament it is difficult to find many that have directly led to changes in legislation.

One exception is the petition launched by Jamie Oliver to tax sugary drinks, which was signed by 155,516 people.

It was debated in parliament in November 2015 and although initially the Government said it did not have plans for a sugar tax, George Osborne announced a levy only months later.

Another petition to achieve change called for more funding for brain tumour research.

The petition had been started by Maria Lester to mark the anniversary of the death of her brother, Stephen.

It gained 20,000 signatures and the government responded - but the petitions committee felt more detailed examination was needed.

In March 2015 the committee published a report, which included personal testimonies and pictures submitted by families. It was debated and as a result the Government accepted funding should be increased.

A petition calling for a second EU referendum has received the greatest number of signatures with more than four million people adding their names.